Botswana: reviews from our travellers

"We could not be happier with our trip. The planning process went very smoothly. We received prompt and helpful replies to our email questions. Maruska was very informative and in addition to arranging most of out trip, she kindly and helpfully advised us on aspects of our trip that weren't booked by Expert Africa.

The camps all exceeded our expectations in every way, accommodations, food, activities. The transitions from one activity to another were flawless; there was always someone expecting us at the appropriate time and escorting us to the next flight or camp or activity.

We have travelled extensively in developing countries and this was the most stress free trip we have ever taken. It was pleasant, relaxing, and simply wonderful.

Though masks are not often used in Botswana, we never felt threatened by COVID. During our entire trip, we were almost never indoors with other people. During the one exception, our flights, the pilots wore masks and we were instructed do the same. Game drives were in open vehicles and all meals were served outdoors with the option of being nowhere near other diners.

We are confident that our risk was less on the trip than it would have been had we stayed home.

After a couple of days, we just stopped thinking about it." Read full review: 17 nights in Africa; 4 on a Botswana safari

"This was our second trip to Botswana with Expert Africa.

Despite our initial nervousness about this trip post- COVID, everything went extremely well. The advice and support provided by Tracy Lederer was invaluable in setting up our excellent itinerary. Whilst we knew that April/May are not the best times to see wildlife in Botswana, we were nevertheless able to see a wide variety of wildlife and birds during our trip, largely thanks to excellent guiding.

King’s Pool was a fantastic place to start as one would expect from a Wilderness Safaris camp. Kwara Camp was an excellent choice with a real focus on wildlife - we were very impressed with Kwando Safaris. Camp Kalahari was a very different and interesting place to finish - we had a wonderful experience there and would highly recommend it.

Overall the trip was amazing - it may have cost a lot of money but we will always treasure the experience.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

No - we are very happy with everything done by Expert Africa. Thank you." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 11 on a Botswana safari

"The entire trip was incredible, none of us wanted to go home. The planning was excellent and everything went flawlessly. The guides inNamibia and Botswana were excellent. It was wonderful being in these countries and meeting the people who are very happy to have tourists returning.

Maruska designed a trip for us that matched all of our goals. She was outstanding during the pandemic in rescheduling a couple of times and kept us informed of everything she was working on and changes. She is the best travel consultant we have ever worked with. She is timely and precise in her dealings with suppliers and companies in Africa. She was very responsive throughout the 3 years of planning. We highly recommend her. Thank you Maruska!" Read full review: 32 nights in Africa; 16 on a Namibia trip

"Ultimately Expert Africa was helpful with two rebookings over the pandemic but they really made the first one troublesome, first telling me to pay balance and I would get a refund if I couldn't make it and then refusing to give me the refund!!!

Inevitably, when reviewing so many different things, one is bound to make some comparisons resulting in not everyone getting an “excellent” review. Plus, I completely lost track of any individual lodge’s pricing since I bought a package to start and then we had several years of adjustments. So, I wasn’t really rating based on “value”. For example, Otjimbondona really impressed us but it might have been crazy expensive!!

Overall, it was an excellent trip and I appreciated the variety of experience. The self drive portion was much easier than anticipated and it was great having that independence after the very prescribed Botswana portion. It was absolutely beautiful reaching the coast at Luderitz (and seafood!) after so much desert time." Read full review: 37 nights in Africa; 12 on a Namibia trip

"Excellent" Read full review: 38 nights in Africa; 8 on a Botswana safari

"Brilliant. I can’t imagine not using Expert Africa for a trip to Africa.

This is the second time we’ve travelled with Expert Africa and the whole experience has been amazing. I especially want to thank Megan Green - I have never experienced a travel consultant who is willing to call you (I live in Australia so considerable time difference) in order to find out about you and the type of trip that would best suit you, and respond so quickly to emails and follow up on every little query and concern with the utmost patience.

And thank you so much Megan, for recommending Andrew to us. I had never even heard of mobile safaris until you told us about Andrew’s and we are now truly hooked.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Not that I can think of at present." Read full review: 11 nights in Africa; 3 on a Botswana safari

"Taken all together, we had a superb trip, with great sightings, wonderful guides and faultless organisation.

We just can’t wait to return!

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Not really - it was all very good
.
Tom did advise that sightings in Hwange might be a bit thin in April but maybe that could be emphasised a bit more . We were very glad to go there but if we hadn’t had the abundance of Splash Camp in the second half we would have been a bit disappointed I suspect . But taken all together, we had a magnificent trip . Thanks !!" Read full review: 14 nights in Africa; 7 on a Zimbabwe safari

"Great experience, everything went according to plan.
Thank you for a wonderful holiday." Read full review: 6 nights in Africa; 6 on a Botswana safari

"After a traumatic year, this was an extremely welcome holiday.

The friendly and informative service from Tracy was fantastic. All aspects of the organisation from Expert Africa was as usual brilliant.

We were a family ageing from 70 to 9 and we all loved Andrew and his mobile Safari staff. We were sad to leave him.

Thank you Tracy for arranging such a super trip" Read full review: 10 nights in Africa; 6 on a Botswana safari

"This trip was a long time coming. I have been on safari several times and once before to Botswana My companions were newbie safari goers so it was really interesting seeing how they responded to the different locations and wildlife.

From the beginning in Windhoek to end at Stanley's camp our trip exceeded expectation. The only hiccup was in Swakopmund due to the weather and a health issue that was efficiently dealt with at a local Medical Clinic. Neither of these were in any way related to the organization of the trip by Tracy our brilliant Expert Africa organizational wizard.

The highlights of the Namibian section of the trip were Andersson's camp in the Ongava Reserve beside Etosha National Park. It was a true privilege to be so close to wild White Rhino. All three of us are keen photographers so the hide beside the watering hole was fantastic for capturing closeups of the visiting wildlife, including numerous birds. The second was Sesriem and the visit to Sossusvlei in the Namib-Naukluft National Park. We stayed at the Hoodia camp, outside the gates to the park which meant we were unable to see the sunrise at the dunes, however watching the changing light on the dunes as the sun rose was still a fantastic experience. This location was also one of the best for astrophotography - no light pollution, no airplane light trails and clear Milky Way shots over the surrounding mountains.

Next was Victoria Falls, we experienced two evenings of torrential rain and thunderstorms, which was very unusual. We still took some great shots of rainbows in the mist of the Falls and went on an early morning river cruise - a fantastic experience. When visiting the falls make sure you have good rain gear (you can hire some from the local pedlars at the gates to the Falls) you will get soaked when the Falls are in full flood - we had 90% capacity and the viewing points above #8 were like being in a shower.

Botswana was all about wildlife and lived up to it's reputation we saw all of the big 5 several times and had fantastic sightings of leopard and at Stanley's watched a pride of lions prepare for an impala hunt. We missed the event as we had to leave for the airstrip - it's impossible to predict what wildlife will do but it was a great way to end our last day on safari.

In the circumstances of this trip I think Tracy did a brilliant job of juggling bookings that had initially been made in 2019 to work in 2022. The only glitches we had were due to the companies Expert Africa work with and most probably due to the speed with which travel ramped back up after the pandemic." Read full review: 24 nights in Africa; 12 on a Namibia trip